Food prices still high, those of services on the rise… Should we be worried about the rebound in inflation ?

L’inflation sur les produits alimentaires reste estimée à 7,1% sur un an. Midi Libre – CAMBON SYLVIE

L'inflation sur un an était de 3,7% en décembre, supérieure de 0,2% à celle de novembre. Certains distributeurs promettent toutefois une nouvelle baisse sur l’alimentaire.

After a lull in the fall, consumer prices started to rise again in December with an increase of 3.7% year-on-year, INSEE announced. This is slightly more than inflation in November, which was estimated at 3.5% over one year.

Also read: Food, energy, manufactured products… inflation stops at 4.3% in July, the decline continues

"This increase in inflation would be due to the acceleration over one year in the prices of energy and services", explains the statistics institute in a press release. The prices of manufactured products and food would therefore continue to increase to a lesser extent.

Still far from the February peak at 6.3%

Despite this slight rebound, inflation in December remains below the level reached during the peak in February 2023 (6.3%).

This overall figure, however, hides disparities. In food, inflation over one year is estimated at 7.1% in December, while it would only be 1.4% for manufactured products. In services, prices increased by 3.1% (compared to 2.8% in November), while those of energy increased by 5.6% over one year (3.1%). in November).

Tug of war between Carrefour and Pepsico

Some countries are doing better, such as Portugal, which has managed to bring its inflation down below 2%. In this context, certain distributors have tightened their standoff with manufacturers in price negotiations.

Carrefour in any case announces its desire, Thursday January 4, to no longer sell Pepsico group products in its stores in France, starting with bottles of Pepsi, Lipton tea or Bénénuts peanuts.

The brand is protesting against requests for price increases that it considers "unacceptable", as part of the annual negotiations currently taking place between manufacturers and distributors.

Leclerc: "We're going to beat the hell out of inflation"

This kind of strategy is not "win", believes Michel-Edouard Leclerc on franceinfo. "It usually only lasts a few days or weeks, before a compromise is found." The boss of the Leclerc stores complains of significant increases from manufacturers on chocolate bars or oil.

"We are going to look for pockets of price reduction, we are going to go and beat the crap out of inflation, he nevertheless promises. We will arrive with inflation, I think, – end of January, beginning of February – which will be at least half as much as last year.